November 1, 2006
The Mysterious Amazon
Is it just me, or are others recently encountering problems with Amazon.com?
For instance, I recently ordered some bath salts. It took a very long time for the order to ship (at least compared with what I'd experienced with some earlier shipments of the same product). Then, the package arrived damaged: the glass containers for the salt had been poorly packed and were shattered in transit. Much of it spilled in my kitchen when I opened the package. The little that remained is now sitting in the torn open corrugated cardboard shipping box in my garage. So now my garage smells of lawn mower, solvent, varnish, assorted other household product fumes, ... and sandalwood, jasmine and rose.
So, I called Amazon's customer service number (believe it or not they have one) and asked them to re-ship. They agreed and yesterday the replacement shipment of salts arrived...in the same condition! Another crappy packing job with the same sorry results.
So I called Amazon customer service again. My aim was to get them to re-ship, this time packing the salts correctly (styrofoam peanuts and all that). They were basically unwilling to do this, despite the fact that this time I had refused delivery and thus they would be getting back the evidence that there really was a problem. They need to "investigate" what is going wrong with the process.
So I told the Amazon representative on the other end of the line (who was, to be sure, very nice) that this isn't the Kennedy assasination. A large scale investigation is unneccesary. The root of the problem here is clear: you can't ship glass containers essentially unprotected.
But he insisted that my only remedy was a refund, which I accepted at that point.
Now, I understand that Amazon is a big and diverse organization and that the left hand can only communicate with the right one through elaborate bureaucratic procedures. And I also understand that the Amazon representative with whom I spoke must operate in this context.
But this is the big rub in dealing with an outfit like Amazon: the most trivial problem (I want to do business with them; all they need to do is pack a box correctly) turns into a big production. This pitfall isn't a real problem as long as things are basically running smoothly, but when they aren't...
In the end, I just ordered the salts directly, from Better Botanicals. I would rather have dealt with Amazon (their prices are better).
Posted by dag at November 1, 2006 9:28 AM
Comments
The bigger issue here, is what are you, a 200 some odd pound heterosexual male, doing with bath salts? Seriously, for what it's worth (my housemate in San Fran used to make and ship those for his business), you really do need an airtight container for them. Otherwise, they absorb moisture and you're left with something worthless. If you're interested in my housemate's web site, let me know and I'll send you the URL.
Posted by: The Good Rabbi ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://aging-disgracefully.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 1, 2006 2:47 PM
Rabbi,
The answer to your question is that I claim bath salts under the "Three Exemption" rule (which states that all hetero men are entitled to incorporate three patently gay things into their lifetstyle with no questions asked or eyebrows raised; this is my working definition for a meaningful metrosexual).
Yes, I would like the URL, thanks.
Posted by: AgingDisgracefully at November 4, 2006 12:10 PM